31 days to completion – day 30

Another gorgeous day here today. Hoping that it will last through tomorrow evening for the trick or treaters. I did some more weeding and cleaning up in the garden. It is looking pretty good out there.

I added another 30 books to the challenge list. It has been interesting to go through the history and see the books I’ve read. A bit sad to see how many I don’t really remember that much about. I once read an article whose author stated that it can be more helpful to limit the number of self-help books you read and to read them over and over. By doing this you are more likely to actually incorporate what you are reading into your actual habits. At the time I thought that wouldn’t really be true but now I wonder. What do you think? Please share if you have any thoughts.

31 days toward completion – day 29

I just entered some more books onto my 1500 book challenge list. I am up to 233 books read. I have 16 pages of library reading history to go through so it will be awhile before this list is finally up to date. As I was looking at the list it occurred to me that I could categorize by type but then I quickly reined myself in. I don’t need to add another project onto my list – I want to cross a project off. I’ll put that thought in my someday file and revisit it at another time.

Another gorgeous day here. Definitely a day to be outside. More of the ever present weeding done but mostly just enjoying the warmth of the sun, the bird songs, the smell of Autumn, the colors of the remaining flowers and the scrumptious taste of the last few raspberries from the raspberry patch.

31 days toward completion – day 28

I can cross off another item on the list – my library wishlist is done. Now I can start requesting the books I’ve been wanting to read. The library will search for the book and not get distracted by other books that look interesting and I might actually get to read some of the books that have been on my list for way too long. I still need to decide what to do about the books the library doesn’t have. I can try to order them through the Interlibrary Loan system or search for them at bookstores/online/paperback swap. Each option has its good and bad points but that’s a decision I’ll leave for another day.

After a few days of low temperatures it has warmed up and I was able to spend some time enjoying my time spent working in the garden. I still have a lot of garden that could be weeded and cleaned up but I did finish the areas I really needed to get done. Of course, with weeding you are never really done but isn’t that so true of many things in the life of a mom – I’m thinking laundry, cooking meals, washing dishes, teaching kids to pick up after themselves, dusting, sweeping, mopping – I could go on but I think you can get the picture.

31 days toward completion – day 27

We are in the home stretch now – only a few days left. I am pleased with my progress. I completed 6 projects so far and will finish one more this week. I have started on one other project, decided to put a few garden things off until spring and no work was done on two projects. I am going to try to keep going in November and get the last 3 projects done.

1. Library wish list – have a bunch of books written down on little slips of paper and want to put them all on the library’s wish list – am almost finished with this

2. Books I’ve read list – same thing – I have little slips of paper with the books I’ve read and need to get them all on here so I can see how many I have read and how close I am to my 1500 goal – added 20 books to the list, still have lots more to go since I realized that I haven’t updated since July of 2012

3. Zen garden – need to put down newspaper, weed fabric and sand; dig a border and fill with pond stones; arrange my big rocks  –have finished the newspaper, weed fabric and the stone border, got the sand but now I’m debating whether I want to do it now or leave it until winter is over –   have decided to wait until spring to put the sand and big rocks in place

4. Shrub area – finish mulching – this is done

5. Orchard – weed, seed, cut down trees – have done some weeding, did the seeding  – have decided to put the trees off until spring

6. Veggie beds – harvest, pull out and dispose of plants, add compost, cover for winter – harvest is completed, compost has been added and all beds are covered

7. Compost – empty out bin – this is completed.

8. Bookcase – put together, put books on – this is completed

9. Quilt fabrics – sort and figure out how/where to store

10. Mat for loft – order mat for exercise area – ordered, arrived, put together and ready to use

11. Yard sale leftovers – put in bags/boxes and arrange for pickup

12. Business IRA forms – need to fill out and send in – this is done

31 days toward completion – day 26

Went out in the garden even though it was pretty cold. When you have slave labor, you need to take advantage of it.  We pulled out some annuals and the last eggplant. Tomorrow we will cover that last veggie bed, do some weeding in the orchard and do some more cleaning up of the front border. DH didn’t have time to do the trees so far and I’m thinking it won’t get done until spring. That’s okay, I want to do some research before we choose what to put in there.

Remember 2 days ago, when I said I would browse the magazines or bring a book to read the next time I went to the library? Well, I failed. I took a book but instead I browsed the shelves and brought home 3 more books. I really have to get better at doing the things I say I should do. It is an on-going battle for me. I’ve been reading/hearing about passing up good for great and I know I should do it but when push comes to shove, I don’t. Anyone have some strategies that might help??

31 days toward completion – day 25

It looked like a great day to be out in the garden – lots of bright, beautiful sun but that was a lie. The air and the breezes were just too chilly for me today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit warmer. Monday and Tuesday look like they will be good days to get out. I sure hope so or I will be out with the heavy coat, gloves and a hat trying to finish up the garden.

I’m almost done listing the books I want to read on my library wish list. There are a few that the library doesn’t have that I will need to search out elsewhere. The next list  to finish is the books I’ve read. That will be another long one to do.  However, I’ve discovered that just putting in some time every day makes it manageable and it really doesn’t take as long as I thought it might. Isn’t that the way it often goes – you put off something because it seems like it will take too long only to find once you do it that it didn’t take nearly as long as you thought it would.  Wish I could remember that insight every time I decide to procrastinate about something.

Less than a week left in this challenge and I’m thinking that I would like to see my work keep moving forward. I may continue to do a list of things to complete – choosing a certain number of projects and reporting on them(although definitely not every day!) . Even if no one else is reading it seems to help keep me moving forward. We’ll see how it goes – it may be tough with the holidays coming up.

 

31 days toward completion – day 24

Yesterday was a  busy day of errands and I just didn’t manage to get anything on the list done. What I did do was add to the list! I ended up getting some more fabric(which will need to be sorted and stored) and buying some more books(which will need to be added to the list once I finish reading them). One thing I’ve discovered is that I should not go shopping or to the library.

I need to create some boundaries if I want to accomplish some of these things.  I definitely have enough fabric for several years of projects and I don’t need to buy stuff just because I like the way it looks. I need to commit to starting and finishing some projects to use up what I have before getting any more fabric. Likewise, I have enough books at home that I do not need to visit bookstores or browse at the library. It should be easy to avoid bookstores after I do my Christmas shopping – no, that is not true. It is never easy for me to avoid bookstores, I’ll need to make a commitment to avoid them. I don’t want to avoid the library because I think it is important for the kids to read but I can avoid browsing. I can take something along to read or browse the magazines while they make their selections.

If I want to stop feeling overwhelmed by  what I have on my plate, I need to limit what I bring into this house and start actively working to make a dent in what is already here. As I’ve said before and will continue to tell myself – baby steps/ one bite at a time is the way to go. Towards that end, today I added some more books to the wish list. I am hopeful that I will be able to finish that this month.

31 days toward completion – day 22

Just a short entry for today because there is celebrating to be done here tonight. It’s my hubby’s birthday so we celebrated as a couple by going out to lunch and will do cake and ice cream as a family this evening.  We had a wonderful lunch and a nice talk. Sometimes it is hard to find a good block of time to just sit and connect with each other. We should make an effort to do it more often.

I was able to add to my 1500 book challenge list. I’m up to 200 books listed with lots more to go. Definitely need to come up with a plan to stay on top of the recording of the books.

 

31 days toward completion – day 21

Did some more work on my book lists. It is amazing how much there is to do on both of these lists. I keep finding more books to add to my books to read list. I’ve discovered that I am way behind in several series that I have started and that some of the new authors I have discovered have several other books that sound good. I definitely need to get back into the routine of reading books everyday. I have been spending too much time at the computer. Some of it is good – blogs like the 31 dayers- but other stuff not so good – endless computer games, reading facebook updates of people that I really don’t need to know about, celebrity information and the endless rabbit trails that crop up.

I have 15 pages of reading history on my library card to go through. There are 20 items on each page – 300 items!! Not all are books to add to the 1500 challenge list – some are dvds of Criminal Minds and some are things my kids have put on my card because they didn’t have their card at the time. Still, I need to go through the items and see which ones I need to put on the list. This could easily be several hours worth of work. I ‘m not going to think of that – I’m just going to take baby steps and do 15 minutes worth of work whenever I can fit it in. It will eventually get done and then the job will be to stay current.

Enough of this for today – it is time to get off the computer and do something else.

31 days toward completion – day 20

Time for another update. Things are moving along. Today was family day in the garden. We were able to get quite a bit done. It always helps when you can get some slave labor to boss around. I have now completed 5 tasks and made progress on 5 more.  There are 2 tasks that I have not yet done anything about.

1. Library wish list – have a bunch of books written down on little slips of paper and want to put them all on the library’s wish list – have done some work on this
2. Books I’ve read list – same thing – I have little slips of paper with the books I’ve read and need to get them all on here so I can see how many I have read and how close I am to my 1500 goal – added 20 books to the list, still have lots more to go since I realized that I haven’t updated since July of 2012
3. Zen garden – need to put down newspaper, weed fabric and sand; dig a border and fill with pond stones; arrange my big rocks  –have finished the newspaper, weed fabric and the stone border, got the sand but now I’m debating whether I want to do it now or leave it until winter is over
4. Shrub area – finish mulching – this is done
5. Orchard – weed, seed, cut down trees – have done some weeding, did the seeding
6. Veggie beds – harvest, pull out and dispose of plants, add compost, cover for winter – harvest is completed, most plants are out – only have one eggplant bush and bed to take care of
7. Compost – empty out bin – this is completed.
8. Bookcase – put together, put books on – this is completed
9. Quilt fabrics – sort and figure out how/where to store
10. Mat for loft – order mat for exercise area – ordered, arrived, put together and ready to use
11. Yard sale leftovers – put in bags/boxes and arrange for pickup
12. Business IRA forms – need to fill out and send in – this is done